A cast of the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton known as the Wankel T. rex was installed in front of the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana in 2001. The actual fossil specimens are being loaned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History for display in the National Museums new paleobiology hall, slated to open in 2019.
Jack Horner, Curator of Paleontology at Museum of the Rockies (and technical adviser for all the “Jurassic Park” films), provides scale for Tyrannosaurus rex fossils at excavation site near the Fort Peck Reservoir in June 1990. Named for its discoverer, Kathy Wankel, the Wankel T. rex is estimated to have weighed six to seven tons.
Kathy Wankel and the rest of the field crew pose with casts of the T.rex arm bones she found that led to the discovery of the full dinosaur specimen. The Wankel T.rex is one of the most complete T.rex specimens ever unearthed, with 80- to 85-percent of the remains recovered.
Graduate student Scott Sampson, foreground, describes skeletal structures of exposed Wankel T.rex fossils for visitors and U.S. Army Corps of Engineer officials at the excavation site near Fort Peck, Mont., June, 1990. The specimen was found on Federal land under the jurisdiction of the Corps and is the property of the U.S. Government.
The real Wankel T.rex is prepared for exhibit in its original “death pose” at Montana State University’s Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Mont., 2005. The Wankel T.rex died in a riverbed more than 65 million years ago.
A bronze cast of the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton known was installed in front of the Museum of the Rockies.
A 66-million-year-old T. rex fossil was unveiled at its new home, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, on April 15, 2014.
A 66-million-year-old T. rex fossil was unveiled at its new home, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, on April 15, 2014.